Leveraging Executive Talent

A new saying is that; a business is but the extension of its key talent in the value chain.

Over the past two decades, the emphasis in business has shifted from maintenance to meaning, from putting in time to making a contribution, from politics to value-added performance, from labor to talent.

What is talent?

In the business context, talent may be defined as capability applied to create value that is recognized and rewarded by primary stakeholders--owners, managers, and customers. Talent must know how their jobs fit within the value chain and not only perform the routine tasks well but also excel at the high-leverage components of their jobs.

The high-leverage part of the job usually requires some degree of proactivity, creativity, initiative, and ingenuity. If the "talent" are not regularly operating at the high end of their jobs and being leveraged wisely by management, most of the talent is wasted. Talent is wasted whenever it is not recognized, developed, expressed, refined, and leveraged. Our experience suggests that the wholesale waste of talent continues unabated, in spite of technology.

What is a value chain?

A multiple-link value chain connects customers with creators, giving users the impression (or illusion) of intimacy and identity with the organization and supplying them with the value they want and need to return again and again. In a product-based business, the value chain may have these 10 links:

1. creative ideas
2. constructive criticism
3. concept development
4. testing/feedback
5. finished product
6. packaging/marketing
7. sales
8. support/service
9. management systems/processes
10. leadership

Every business needs top talent at every link, since it will only be as strong as its weakest link. Moreover, the talent at every vital link must feel valued. To the extent that talent feel like victims, performance suffers proportionately.

What talent matters most in your business?

Every member of the value chain matters to the customer. Leaders should recognize that the new definitions of talent and value do not exclude any member of the organization. Each employee should feel, as each member of an athletic team, that he or she plays a vital role and might, through diligence and intelligent application of talents, become indispensable (in a here-and-now business sense). This means that on any given day, or on any particular shift, their presence and performance not only "matters"--it makes all the difference in the world.

We think every person likes the feeling of being a "count-on-me" talent. But people may not stay happy in the system if, after proving themselves, they aren't recognized and rewarded.

How is talent best recognized and rewarded?

No one way is a winner across the board. To the extent possible, rewards should be personalized, based on the preferences and priorities of each individual talent. This is too much to ask, you say? Not if you want to be a market leader. The size of the operation is not the critical factor--it's the habit of showing appreciation.

How is top talent best recruited?

Top performing environments attract top talent. The best talent flows to the best companies to work for. These performers may be influenced by colleagues, peers, and parents; a lot of recruitment happens word of mouth in every industry. Talent seeks creative freedom, expression, performance options, growth, and a supportive environment with capable owners, managers, coaches, cheerleaders, team members, and pay-for-performance systems.

How is top talent best retained?

In this area of retaining talent, common sense is not common practice. It is easy to cite factors such as a winning program, achievement, stability in the front office, relationship of trust with ownership, collegiality with colleagues, awards, recognition, growth, learning, money. But personalities and politics complicate matters. Also, top talent, especially when represented by top agents and attorneys, often become their own worst enemies by expecting and demanding too much.

How is talent best leveraged?

We see seven ways:

1. Teams. Put top talent with other good talent in teams and give them challenging and meaningful work to do. Make sure this work is valued by the organization and its customers.
2. Special projects. There's nothing quite like a special assignment, some "mission impossible" or high-priority
3. Products. Pour top talent into products that can be replicated and widely distributed. By creating new products and improving existing products, you gain immense leverage.
4. Distribution. Seek wide distribution for the work of top talent. If the world-class work of your top talent is poorly promoted and distributed, you gain little leverage.
5. Marketing/sales. Leverage talent through marketing and sales events. This may mean featuring talent in ads or involving them in sales in some way.
6. Advertising/public relations. Make your top talent bigger than life. Create an image and identity for them. Invest wisely in advertising and public and media relations to make a brand of the talent's name.
7. Mentoring/modeling/coaching. Engage willing, mature talent in the high-leverage activities of mentoring, modeling, and coaching new talent.

What is the new role of managers and leaders?                              

Like management in the sports and entertainment worlds, the primary role of management is to support, serve, discipline, and leverage the talent. The leader often asks four questions: How is it going? What are you learning? What are your goals now in light of how it is going and what you are learning? and How can I help you? In this way, the leader avoids owning the problem and yet offers himself or herself as a source of help. The leader's responsibility is to create conditions of trust, set up performance agreements, allow people to perform, and then hold people accountable.

That's not to say leaders don't own the responsibility for execution.  They do and leaders must be completely engaged in their business and organization in order to maximize their value.  We'll stop on that note, as that's the topic of another Human Capitalist later this year.